Royal Mail has admitted it failed in its attempt to clear a huge backlog of undelivered mail by Christmas saying there are still “some” letters and parcels left undelivered at the Dundee East depot.
However, a spokeswoman was unable to confirm the backlog amounts to what The Courier understands to be thousands of letters.
The admission follows desperate attempts by the company to clear the backlog, drafting in extra staff and having postal staff out delivering items at nights in the run-up to Christmas Eve.
The Courier understands there are still thousands of mail items among them Christmas cards and parcels sitting in the depot undelivered. And as staff are now off until Wednesday there are fears some items will not even get to their destination before the end of the year.
A Royal Mail spokeswoman said, “Like any other essential service we have been hampered by the worst weather for 30 years. Royal Mail has undertaken their biggest ever weather recovery programme to get the mail delivered.
“There is some mail still to be delivered in Dundee East delivery office and our top priority when our postmen and women return to work on Wednesday is to deliver this mail to our customers.”
Two weeks ago Royal Mail issued an apology to the people of Dundee East for giving them such a poor delivery service and pledged to do all it could to make it up in time for Christmas.
Scottish director Paul Kelly and Tayside and Fife sector manager Terry Allan had joined the ranks of postmen and women as they struggled to implement a new working system and then battle their way through the worst early winter weather in a generation to deliver mail.
So serious were the problems at DD4 and DD5 postcode areas the Scottish and area chiefs made visits not just to see what has been going on, but to deliver letters and parcels themselves.Has your Christmas been spoiled by letters and parcels not arriving? Let us know in the comments below or by emailing news@thecourier.co.uk